Dynamics and Diversity of Intrauterine Anaerobic Microbiota in Dairy Cows with Clinical and Subclinical Endometritis

Abstract

The aim of the study was to characterize the dynamics of anaerobic cultivable postpartum microbiota in the uterus of dairy cows. In total, 122 dairy cows were enrolled and sampled on day 0 (day of calving) and on days 3, 9, 15, 21, and 28 postpartum (pp). Samples were cultivated anaerobically and analyzed by MALDI-TOF MS. In total, 1858 isolates were recovered. The most prevalent facultative anaerobic genera were Trueperella (27.8%), Streptococcus (25.4%), and Escherichia (13.1%). The most prevalent obligate anaerobes were Peptoniphilus (9.3%), Bacteroides (3.3%), and Clostridium (2.4%). The microbial communities were highly dynamic and diverse. On the animal level, Trueperella pyogenes on day 21 and 28 pp was associated with clinical endometritis, and E. coli on day 21 pp was associated with subclinical endometritis. The occurrence of Streptococcus pluranimalium on day 28 was related to uterine health. The presence of T. pyogenes, Streptococcus, and Peptoniphilus was significantly associated with an increased risk for purulent vaginal discharge. Primiparous cows showed a higher prevalence of T. pyogenes, Fusobacterium necrophorum, Porphyromonas levii, and Peptoniphilus spp. than multiparous cows but were not more susceptible to uterine diseases. This study might provide a suitable basis for future co-cultivation studies to elucidate potential synergistic interactions between microbiota.

Longitudinal Changes in Milk Microorganisms in the First Two Months of Lactation of Primiparous and Multiparous Cows

“…Many strictly anaerobic bacteria, such as Bacteroides , Lactobacillus , and Prevotella were detected in our study and suggested that the microbiota in milk is not only related to the external environment. The high abundance of typically gut-associated microbes in the two groups confirmed that a part of the milk flora originated from the gastrointestinal tract, and this portion of gut-related bacteria would enter the breast, promoted by hormonal changes during and after pregnancy [ 11 , 51 ]. In the two groups, both the fluctuations in lactation time and the differences in the abundance of some typically gut-associated microbes showed that the physiological changes of dairy cows affect the diversity of milk microbial communities.…”

“…Similar to Lactobacillus , some genera showed higher abundance in the colostrum stage in the two groups, such as Alcaligenes , Streptococcus , Veillonella , Blautia , etc. In addition to nutritional composition changes over the transition period, hormonal and metabolic changes are also observed in cows [ 11 , 55 ], which may contribute to the differences in genera in colostrum. The alpha diversity also validated that the differences in milk diversity between the first three days and that of other time points were more obvious in the PC group ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…Lima et al [ 10 ] also reported differences in the microbial community structure related to parity, with a richer colostrum microbiota in primiparous cows compared to multiparous cows. In addition to that, the existing research results indicated that there were differences in the microbial diversity in the uterus, vagina, and rumen between primiparous cows and multiparous cows [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. We speculated that changes in cows after first calving might lead to the differences in microorganisms in different parts, but this hypothesis should be studied further.…”

Indicators of reproduction when using complex use of drugs for spontaneous manifestation of heat in cows for mycotoxicosis

“…At this time, it is important to establish the condition of the organs of the reproductive system of cows before insemination. This is due to the fact that according to foreign authors (Wagener et al, 2017;Ballas et al, 2022;Pascottini et al, 2023), during this period subclinical inflammatory processes are diagnosed, namely endometritis, salpingitis, or ovariitis. After applying the prescribed treatment, the duration of the service period decreased by an average of 25%.…”